Background
The hamlets of Chinnakarattur, Periyakarattur, Naripadi and Nanankarai are located
on the Koodamalai - Nanankarai Road in that order, with Nanankarai being the
farthest village, 8 kms away from Koodamalai. Falling within 95 Perur Panchayat
of Kengavalli Taluk in Salem District, these villages are inhabited by Malayalis
who are Scheduled Tribes. With a population of about 2,000, which includes a
few non-tribals, the people recall that as early as 1957, Kamaraj, the most
famous Congress leader of Tamilnadu, had visited the hamlets declaring the place
as Gandhigramam. The people are small and marginal peasants owning between 1-4
acres of dry land with about 15-20 percent being landless, rearing goats and
cows to supplement their meager income. There are 5 tractors, owned by the non-tribals,
who live in the area outside the Adivasi hamlets in 95 Perur Kattukottai, as
well as some cycles and handful of two wheelers.

Located at the foothills
of Pachamalai Hills, the area was part of Koodamalai Panchayat, becoming a separate
Panchayat 2 years ago under the name 95 Perur. There are nearly 100 students
who have completed high school with a handful of graduates. The closest high
school, health service, and other basic facilities are available only at Koodamalai.
The Koodamalai-Nanankarai Road is a kutcha road, which has to cross two forest
streams, namely Suvetha and Kallar.

The people of these villages,
who have to take an arduous trek ranging from 8 kms to 3 kms, have been demanding
a bus service from Koodamalai to Nanankarai. Besides, the bus service would
also benefit the villages of Mayampadi, Kodunkal, Vancharai, Odaikattuputhur,
and other villages of Pachamalai whose travel would be reduced from 75 kms to
25 kms. Due to lack of any response by the government for their numerous petitions,
the people began to launch an agitation for the bus service about 3 years ago.
They had organised a rally, wearing only a loincloth in front of the Collectorate
at Salem. They had also carried out a road blockade agitation at Koodamalai.
Their demands included converting the kutcha road into a pucca road, a bridge
over Suvetha, which is a small forest river and regular bus service. The promises
by politicians and bureaucrats continued to remain unfulfilled. Disillusioned,
the people declared the boycott of 1998 parliamentary elections. The election
boycott was total. The area falls under the SC reserved constituency of Rasipuram,
which was won by Saroja of AIDMK. Quite significantly, the people, keeping out
the political parties, led the agitation for the road and bus service. For this
reason, the local party leaders at Koodamalai are angry. Despite it becoming
a separate Panchayat, the area continued to be grossly neglected.

Frustrated, the people issued
notice stating that if the bus service were not commenced by 23.06.99 the people
would be forced to resort to a road blockade at Koodamalai on 28.06.99. Strangely
enough, the Athur RDO, Lakshmanan, stated that he was not aware of the road
roko till the previous day though the FIR crime no.287/99 states clearly that
notice of road blockade was given to the Collector and the transport authorities.
In order to avoid the lame excuse that the road is not motorable, the people,
on their own initiative, spent money and laboured for days together leveling
the kutcha road. The Fact-Finding Team visited all the affected villages and
found the road to be motorable.

The Incidents
On 27th evening at 6 p.m. a bus was sent by the transport authorities for a
trial and test run. The people of the 4 villages were thrilled and celebrated
the event by distributing sweets, garlanding the bus and others who accompanied
the bus including Athur DSP Sundaresan. Poojaas were conducted. But the jubilation
turned to disappointment when the people realized that this was a test run and
was not a guarantee that the bus service would indeed be started. At 7 p.m.
a discussion was held at the Taluk office between the representatives of the
people who included the Panchayat President P.Rajarathnam of Naripadi and RDO
Lakshmanan, Tehsildar Pannerselvam, etc. The RDO requested for 3 days time (3
days to 1 week according to RDO) to start the bus service and so to withdraw
the road blockade. According to the RDO, the Panchayat President Rajarathnam
agreed and gave an undertaking for withdrawal of the agitation. This could not
be verified with Rajarathnam, as he was not available. As the deadline provided
by the people, i.e., 23.06.99, had passed and the discussion on 27.06.99 also
was futile as they got only a request for further time, they decided to stick
to their decision of carrying out the road blockade on 28.06.99.

A large number of people
had traveled through the night arriving some distance away from the Koodamalai
stop. They halted there for the day to dawn. Around 3.30 or 4 a.m., the police
swooped down on the unsuspecting people and arrested them. There was no resistance
from the people. In all 81 people were taken under preventive custody of which
14 were women (one Kavitha had a one and a half year old baby with her). By
dawn, more people arrived from all the four hamlets. Except for the very old,
sick or debilitated people and some to take care of the village and the cattle,
an overwhelming majority of the people had come to the Koodamalai stop to participate.
The estimated number of people who participated is around 800. This included
about 50 children.

The agitators commenced
their road blockade with the children in the front rows followed by women and
finally the men. At around 9 a.m. RDO Lakshmanan, Tehsildar Pannerselvam, and
VAO arrived and began talks with the people. The officials again asked for 3
days time for commencing the bus service. The people insisted that they had
given enough time, waited enough and refused to believe the genuineness of the
official's words. They insisted that they would withdraw only after the bus
service was started. They also demanded the release of the 81 people who were
taken under preventive custody some hours earlier. The talks were held in a
very peaceful and cordial atmosphere. This was corroborated by the RDO, the
people interviewed in all the 4 hamlets as well as by the former Koodamalai
DMK Secretary G.P Subramaniam, Sittrarasu of CPM, etc. There were about 30 policemen
and women under the charge of DSP Sundaresan. The discussions went on till about
11.30 a.m. The RDO kept appealing to the people to disburse asking for time
for starting the bus service. He also assured that those 81 arrested would be
let out on bail in due course as per procedure. He also warned that if the people
continued with the road blockade, they would have to be arrested as per law.
The RDO told the Fact-Finding Team that there were clear and strict instructions
from the government that under no circumstances road blockade should be permitted
and if resorted to, they were to be severely dealt with. The agitating people
replied that they would prefer to be arrested.

The children were separated
from the agitators by women police and taken aside. At about 11.45 a.m., the
police requested all people who were not participating to step aside. The police
surrounded the agitators in preparation to take them into custody. While all
these were taking place, the RDO was continuing to request people to disburse.
Meanwhile, the women police had grabbed 2 women by the hair, dragged and hauled
them into the van. The other women followed. It is alleged by the people that
as the RDO terminated his discussion and as the people were getting ready to
get arrested, the RDO gave a signal with his hand. Pandemonium broke out immediately
when the police, on allegedly seeing the signal given by the RDO, smashed their
batons on the heads of the people and an unprovoked lathicharge followed. The
people ran helter skelter. Three men fell unconscious with blood profusely streaming
from their head. Provoked by this unexpected assault by the police, these peaceful
agitators who were being chased and beaten up began to retaliate with stone
throwing. The police and the administrative officials had clearly not expected
this retaliation. They had expected the people to get beaten, injured, or run
away. The police and the officials, including the RDO and Tehsildar, ran away
and took shelter in near by shops and lanes. In the process, 12 policemen are
reported to have been stoned and what was left, the vehicles numbering 8 in
which the police and the officials had come including the vans and 2 TSTC buses
to take those getting arrested, had their windshield broken in the stone throwing.

The Koodamalai bus stop
is a small junction lined on both sides with petty shops, hotels and other traders.
There were a large number of people of Koodamalai who were present during the
time. It is noteworthy that the retaliation by the agitators did not turn riotous.
The shops or other onlookers were not attacked or targeted. After the police
and the administrative officials ran away, the agitators peacefully retreated
back to their villages.

According to the RDO, the
demands of the people were "200 percent genuine" and that he had patiently
discussed the problem with them and requested for 3 days to 1-week time. The
leaders, which included P.Rajarathnam (Panchayat President of 95 Perur of Naripadi),
P. Krishnan (headman, Naripadi), Rajamani (headman, Periyakarattur), K. Pichamani
(headman, Chinnakarattur) and Pappu (headman, Nanankarai) were generally favourable
to this but seemed to be reluctant to accept the withdrawal of the agitation.
According to him, when the women were being taken into custody, the atmosphere
all of a sudden changed and there was stone throwing resulting in injuries to
policemen and damage to vehicles. He was of the opinion that the Malayalis were
innocent and that they were led astray. He also assured that he would persuade
the DSP to release all (14 women of the 81 taken into preventive custody on
28.06.99 were out on conditional bail on 08.07.99) and ensure bail and subsequent
withdrawal of the cases. Regarding the bus service, he was appreciative of the
people for their patience as well as their anger. Moreover, the test drive on
the road was conducted and the Collector and transport authorities will hopefully
ensure that the bus service is started. He also averred to the way the administration
functions and the delays. When he was sure that the bus service would be started
in 3 days to 1 week, the question remains as to why the bus service had not
started even on 09.07.99 when the Fact-Finding Team met him, i.e., even after
12 days. The RDO then indicated that he was a small person in the system and
this fell within the purview of the Collector.

The version of the RDO was
that the agitators turned violent suddenly attacking the police and other officials.
Not anticipating this, they had to run away and take shelter. The RDO was firm
that there was no lathi charge prior to the attack of the people. The agitators
interviewed as well as the general public at Koodamalai refuted this. On being
questioned about the head injuries sustained by the agitators, the RDO felt
that it could have been by the stones thrown by the agitators on the police,
which hit their own people. The RDO insisted that there were some non-tribals
amongst them who were controlling them who began the attack on the police. He,
however, refused to provide any further information on these alleged intruders.
The Fact-Finding Team could not find any evidence of this story.

On 28th about 2.30 or 3
p.m., the people of the villages saw about 20 police vans coming along the Koodamalai
- Nanankarai road. SP Rajendran reportedly led this. Apprehending the worst,
the people in all the villages locked up their houses wherever possible and
ran into the forests as fast as they could. The very elderly, the sick, the
just delivered, and pregnant were left behind. Some of them could see what was
happening. The police raided the villages, which continued kill the next day.

The police went from house
to house smashing the wooden doors, which were locked. A large number of doors
could be seen to have come off the hinges. The doors of the houses belonging
to Pitchamuthu and Perumal, for example, in Chinnakarattur were found smashed.
The lock of the door of the house of Arumugham was broken and a sack of rice
was strewn on the floor. The dish antenna of Sankaran too in Periyakarattur
was smashed. Machendran of Naripadi was married on 24.06.99. The left over groceries,
sugar, eatables, 1 sack of rice, chilies, etc, from the marriage were dumped
on the floor after breaking open the house and kerosene poured. 5 kg of salted
dry meat was stolen. The electricity meter for the street light - a government
property - was found smashed besides another 5 house electricity meters. The
household vessels of Manickam and Ramaswamy were smashed out of shape. Pitchaikkaran's
door, 5 tiles, bulbs, stereo box, tape recorder and radio too were not spared.
The Panchayat President's household electricity meter, glass panes and bulbs
were also smashed. A number of cycles, for instance, that of Palaniswamy of
Chinnakarattur were damaged. 2 motorcycles, both in Naripadi were also damaged.
The Hero Puch (TN 07 9283) belonging to T. Doraiswamy, the postman in Naripadi,
besides his cycle, was damaged. Similarly, a Hero Honda (TCS 8073) of Talagownder
of the same village was also damaged. This wanton destruction, (a few examples
are only stated in this report) was spread out.

Two tractors belonging to
Venkatachala Gownder and Marappa Gownder in 95 Perur Kattukottai (non-tribals)
were seized. Whatever implements the police could get hold of, as for example
crow bars, sickles, knives, iron rods, wooden clubs, etc., were also seized.
The people allege that these are taken to "prove" that the people
were armed and these were used in the clash with the Police on 28.06.99 and
hence, there were premeditated plans to attack the police.

More than 100 coconuts were
plucked and stolen by the police. In Nanankarai, the tender coconuts were consumed
and the rest carried away. In Naripadi, Chandra reported that her 2 chickens,
a sack full of salt (from her petty shop) were amongst the stolen goods. Stealing
of chicken was a common phenomenon in all the hamlets. Around 20 chickens were
stolen from Nanankarai. In Periyakarattur, the police took time to cook about
10 chickens and ate them. More than 40 hens were reported stolen altogether.
At Naripadi, Ponnammal said that her 6 kgs of chilies were taken away. The police
also looted the transponders of the dish antennas that were smashed at Chinnakarattur
and Periyakarattur. In Nanankarai, household vessels were found dumped inside
the well. The gauge wheel costing Rs.8,000 of Venkatachala Gownder (whose tractor
was confiscated) was dumped in his well at 95 Perur Kattukottai.

All these destruction and
looting by the police is clearly indicative of also hitting at the meager possessions
of the people and hence, at the very root of their economy. As the people hid
in the forest and began returning for the most part after 4 days, their cattle
had remained untended and so had wandered away. The people were still in the
search to retrieve them. There were many who were still to return from the forests
even on the tenth day after the police swooped down on the villages. Some had
reportedly gone to other villages and even far away ones for fear of the police.
The people of Nanankarai, the farthest village, were still in a state of shock
when the Fact-Finding Team visited. Vijaya w/o Muthu was abused in filthy language
and threatened. Alliamma w/o Dhanapal had delivered a child just four days before
the police came. She too was abused and threatened. She was so fear stricken
that she took her baby and ran away into the safety of the forest refusing to
come back to the village. Her experience had shattered her so much that she
took ill. Her old mother fears now for her life.

When the Fact-Finding Team
confronted the RDO with the information of widespread destruction and looting
in all the villages, he replied that this was the first time he was hearing
anything about this. He alleged that neither the Yercaud MLA nor any other political
leaders, the administrative officials had reported this to him. In addition,
the RDO maintains that the people from the villages also did not prefer any
complaints even though he had personally visited Chinnakarattur on 03.07.99
to "restore normalcy". The Malai Malar of that day (0.07.99) in fact
had carried a photograph of the smashed antenna at Chinnakarattur. There was,
for example, a protest meeting of CPI (M) at Koodamalai on 05.07.99 condemning
the lathi charge, destruction and widespread atrocities by the police. So it
is inconceivable that the RDO was not aware of the incidents of police violence.

It is also alleged that
a Junior Engineer of the Electricity Board Office at Koodamalai was contacted
by RDO Lakshmanan on 28.06.99 and ordered to cut off electric supply to the
area. The Junior Engineer is reported to have refused to carry out the order.
However, the Fact-Finding team could not verify this.

In these police raids, 58
people were arrested of which the overwhelming majority (44) was women. They
were accused of attempt to murder, rioting etc, under sections 147, 148, 341,
324, 307 etc. In all 139 were arrested. According to the RDO, the raid and arrests
were stopped after the intervention of Yercaud DMK MLA Perumal who had visited
the villages.

Findings of the Fact-Finding
Team
1. The demands on which the people agitated were for a basic and essential service,
which the governments had continued to deny. The methods adopted by the affected
villagers were democratic and peaceful.
2. The police lathi charge on 28.06.99 was totally unprovoked and unjustified.
3. The police had unleashed a reign of terrors, destroying household items,
damaging property and indulged in looting.
4. The authorities had taken cognizance of the violation of laws and atrocities
perpetrated on the Adivasis by the Police force.

PUCL - Tamilnadu & Pondicherry
demands:
1. Immediate action against RDO Lakshamanan, SP Rajendran and DSP Sundaresan
and others under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989.
2. Provision of interim relief to the affected people.
3. Institution of a Commission of Enquiry on the unprovoked lathicharge, destruction
and looting by the police.
4. Unconditional release of the arrested and immediate withdrawal of all cases
against the people.
5. Sanction of bus service and road laying from Koodamalai to Nanankarai and
a bridge over Suvetha river.